Daily Times

In a dramatic turn of events, the father-daughter duo Nawaz and Maryam are returning to Pakistan on Friday. A section of media pundits were predicting that the convicted Sharifs would not come back to Pakistan due to the fear of imprisonment. At least for now, that theory has been falsified. It seems that Nawaz Sharif and his firebrand daughter are in no mood to exit the political arena. Their return to Pakistan will entail further turbulence, not just with respect to their personal lives, but also the future direction of politics in the country.

The return of Nawaz Sharif will have an immediate impact on the prospects of Shehbaz Sharif — the current hopeful for the slot of prime minister — for his politics has a clear message of reconciliation with the establishment. Shehbaz has made every effort to convey his willingness to work with the military and has even gone to the extent of forming a national government after the elections are over. With the return of Nawaz and Maryam, and their possible incarceration, the political temperatures are going to increase, leading to further escalation of conflict between the house of Sharif and the establishment.

Secondly, the fate of PML-N performance in the election will also be impacted. Earlier, the fortunes of PML-N were plummeting due to the absence of Sharif and the aggressive campaigning by PTI Chairman Imran Khan. Now, with the arrival of Sharif, there is a chance that PML-N voters may come to polling stations partly to register their protest against the disqualification and sentencing of Nawaz Sharif. Third, the return of Sharif will be a great test for the superior judiciary, as the Sharifs will appeal the sentences handed out by the accountability court. This will be an opportunity for the judiciary to dispel the impression of bias created by the Nawaz Sharif’s narrative since last one year. The superior judiciary must remain above board and the political cases ought to be handled in a careful manner.

While the Sharifs — father and daughter — complain of political witch-hunt they must remember that a large number of Pakistanis suffer corruption everyday. They have been led to believe that if the rot is fixed at the top, the system will improve. At least that’s what Imran Khan’s populism suggests and has filtered down to urban middle classes that are vocal and set the contours of public opinion. Having said that, the accountability process must be across the board and should not be selective — something that the Sharifs have been complaining about. It is best that the next parliament should fix the legal lacunae and devise better ways to weed out corruption. Evidently, the National Accountability Bureau and its working need to improve, particularly in terms of achieving fairness and regulating the arbitrary procedures that have been adopted in recent months.

These are testing times for Pakistan, and it is hoped that the ongoing political instability is not allowed to get out of hand. Sharifs should face the courts and we hope that Pakistan’s justice system will act fairly and promptly in all instances including this one.  *

Published in Daily Times, July 9^th 2018.